Dust Inspection Device

This application claims priority of No. 113129198 filed in Taiwan R.O.C. on Aug. 5, 2024 under 35 USC 119, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

This disclosure relates to a dust inspection device, and more particularly to a dust inspection device facilitating a user (or an operator) in inspecting or checking dust in a space.

In modern manufacturing processes, cleanrooms play an extremely critical role in preventing dust contamination of silicon wafers, glass substrates and other materials, thereby improving the product yield and stability. As manufacturing technology continues to advance, the requirements of the manufacturing processes on the cleanliness get higher and higher. Therefore, it's necessary to improve the cleanroom environments to support applications of advanced manufacturing technologies, promote technological innovation, and drive development.

Monitoring dust levels in cleanrooms is crucial for maintaining the cleanliness thereof. Conventional methods for checking dust levels include using fallout counters, laser particle counters, air dust counters, sedimentation plates, surface cleanliness tests, optical microscopy, electron microscopy and the like. However, these testing methods are suitable for long-term monitoring and require the complex and expensive equipment to accurately measure the dust levels. Therefore, they are not ideal for real-time monitoring.

It is therefore an objective of this disclosure to provide a dust inspection device capable of immediately inspecting or checking dust, and an operator can use this inspection device to immediately detect a distribution state of dust within the space. For example, the operator can grip and swing this inspection device to immediately detect the distribution state of the dust within the space.

To achieve the above-identified objective, this disclosure provides a dust inspection device including: a light-emitting module outputting light travelling in a light-emitting direction; and a frame, wherein the light-emitting module is installed on the frame. The light forms an optical net in a space surrounded by the frame and the light-emitting module, wherein dust passing through the optical net reflects the light to a user's eye, so that a user uses this dust inspection device to inspect the dust in an environment.

With the above-mentioned embodiment, a user can utilize this dust inspection device to immediately inspect the state of dust within the space and provide immediate reference for checking or improving the cleanliness of cleanrooms.

In order to make the above-mentioned content of this disclosure more obvious and be easily understood, preferred embodiments will be described in detail as follows in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

1 FIG. 2 3 FIGS.and 1 FIG. 4 FIG. 1 FIG. 1 4 FIGS.to 100 100 100 100 10 20 is a pictorially exploded view showing a dust inspection deviceaccording to a preferred embodiment of this disclosure.are respectively an exploded top view and an assembled and schematic top view showing the dust inspection deviceof.is a schematic view showing work principles of the dust inspection deviceof. Referring to, the dust inspection deviceincludes a light-emitting moduleand a frame.

10 1 1 10 10 100 20 10 20 20 15 100 15 10 20 20 10 1 The light-emitting moduleoutputs light Ltravelling in a light-emitting direction D(a direction away from the user in this non-restrictive example). In one example, the light is linear light, and may be implemented by a light source and a lens of the dust inspection device converting light rays of the light source into straight parallel light. In another example, the light is fan-shaped light, and may be implemented by the light source and the lens converting light rays of the light source into diverging fan-shaped light. The light source includes, for example but without limitation to, a laser source or a visible light source. The light-emitting modulecan be manufactured in the shape of a flashlight, making it convenient for the user to hold and turn the light source on or off. Furthermore, its elongated shape facilitates the placement of optical components, such as the lens, within the light-emitting moduleto produce the desired light. The above-mentioned dust inspection devicemay be referred to as a laser dust inspection kit. In another example, the framecan be designed to be easily held by the user, and the light-emitting moduleis directly mounted on the frame. In still another example, the framecan be designed with a gripping structureto be conveniently held by the user so that the user can swing the dust inspection deviceby the gripping structurefor immediate inspection. The light-emitting moduleis directly mounted to the frame, so that the frameand the light-emitting modulecan be combined more stably and conveniently. In still another example, the color of light Lis yellow-green, green, or blue-purple, allowing the human eye to more sensitively detect whether dust has passed through.

10 20 1 30 20 10 10 20 200 30 1 100 30 1 10 200 100 The light-emitting moduleis mounted on the frame. The light Lforms an optical netin a space SP surround by the frameand the light-emitting module. The user can hold the light-emitting module, turn on the light source and move (swing) the frame, so that dustpassing through the optical netreflects the light Lto the user's eye, and the user can inspect the dust in the environment in a manner of holding the dust inspection deviceby his/her hand. If there is no dust passing through the optical net, then the user will not notice any reflected light from the dust. Therefore, by utilizing the optical path of the light Lfrom the light-emitting moduleto the dustand then to the eye in conjunction with the user's holding and swinging of the dust inspection device, the eye can see whether the dust is present or not, and the real-time dust inspection can be achieved.

30 30 100 The above-mentioned inspection does not relate to counting of the number of the dust particles, but rather observing whether or not any dust passes through the optical net. If there are dust particles passing through the optical net, then it represents that the dust is present in the cleanroom. The user can swing or wave the dust inspection deviceat different locations, and thus immediately detect the presence or absence of dust, allowing for further improvements to the cleanroom. This is suitable for apparatus maintenance in the cleanroom after the apparatus has started, and also for on-the-spot checks by general operators after entering the cleanroom.

1 1 30 20 30 20 20 20 1 20 20 11 10 1 FIG. The light Ltravels in the light-emitting direction Dto form the optical net. The framemainly restricts the range of the optical netand prevents the laser beam from directly incident to other positions, such as eyes of another operator or any other apparatus that can affected by the laser beam. However, the inner surface of the framemay also be configured into a reflective surface. In this case, the framehas an inner reflective structureA which reflects the light Land the reflected light L travels in the space SP. In a top view (looking in the negative Z direction of), the inner reflective structureA is polygonal (substantially triangular in this example). Therefore, the framehas a substantial triangular shape, and a first endof the light-emitting moduleis disposed on a vertex of the substantially triangular shape.

20 21 22 23 11 10 24 25 22 23 1 24 21 The framehas a first reflective surface, a second reflective surfaceand a third reflective surface. The first endof the light-emitting moduleis disposed in a mounting holeformed on a connection portionof the second reflective surfaceand the third reflective surface. In addition, the light-emitting direction Dis a direction from the mounting holeto the first reflective surface.

The above-mentioned example is explained based on the user holding the dust inspection device. In other examples, however, the dust inspection device may also be mounted on the ground, the wall, the machine or any other structure, and the user can manually turn on or off the light source of the light-emitting module, or the light source of the light-emitting module is configured to turn on for a long time (e.g., the light source is turned on when work is performed in the cleanroom), so that the user can immediately visually inspect whether the dust has passed through the dust inspection device or not. In one example, the user can immediately check whether dust is brought in or generated when a cart, an operator or he (or she) passes by.

5 8 FIGS.to 1 FIG. 3 5 FIGS.and 5 FIG. 21 1 22 23 25 22 23 30 21 22 23 are schematic front views showing work principles of other examples of the dust inspection device of. Referring to, the first reflective surfacereflects the light Lpartially to the second reflective surfaceand the third reflective surface, and partially to the connection portion. The second reflective surfaceand the third reflective surfacealso reflect the light in different directions, so that light interleaving within the overall optical netbecomes denser. Because the optical path is complicated, the first reflective surfaceis regarded as a left-side reflective surface, and the second reflective surfaceand the third reflective surfaceare regarded as a right-side reflective surface infor the sake of explanation. Those skilled in the art may easily understand that this disclosure is not limited thereto.

5 FIG. 1 5 FIGS.to 21 1 22 23 1 21 22 23 30 35 200 30 30 30 20 26 27 26 200 30 200 30 26 200 30 26 27 200 30 20 27 Referring to, the first reflective surfacereflects the light Lto the second reflective surfaceand the third reflective surface. After the light Lhas been repeatedly reflected by the first reflective surface, the second reflective surfaceand the third reflective surface, the optical netis extended in a top view direction to generate an optical detection spacehaving a predetermined thickness, and to increase an opportunity that the user senses the dust. That is, when the optical netforms only one plane, the dust may not be sensed because it only passes through the plane in a very short period of time. When the optical nethas a certain thickness, the dust passes through the optical netfor a longer time and thus can be easily sensed. Referring to, the framehas a first openingand a second openingdisposed opposite the first opening. Because the dustpasses through the optical net, the dustmay enter the optical netfrom the first opening, and the dustpassing through the optical netreflects the light to the user's eye through the first openingor the second opening, and then the dustleaves the optical netand the framefrom the second opening.

6 FIG. 21 22 23 1 2 3 2 3 1 2 1 2 3 1 Referring to, each of the first reflective surface, the second reflective surfaceand the third reflective surfaceincludes a vertical reflective surface R, a first horizontal reflective surface Rand a second horizontal reflective surface R. The first horizontal reflective surface Rand the second horizontal reflective surface Rare respectively connected to an upper edge Eand a lower edge Eof the vertical reflective surface R. The first horizontal reflective surface Rand the second horizontal reflective surface Rrestrict a portion of light Lfrom leaving the space SP and directly travelling to the user's eye.

7 FIG. 8 FIG. 20 20 2 3 1 20 20 2 3 1 20 20 20 Referring to, the framefurther has an outer reflective structureB, which is connected to the first horizontal reflective surface Rand the second horizontal reflective surface Rand reflects the light Laway from the space SP. Referring to, the framefurther has a light-absorbing structureC, which is connected to the first horizontal reflective surface Rand the second horizontal reflective surface Rand absorbs the light Lto prevent the light from scattering randomly in the external environment. The light-absorbing structureC may be a black coating layer, a sawtooth structure, a rough surface, a porous material layer (such as a sponge layer) or a combination thereof. In another example, the angle of installation for the outer reflective structureB or the light-absorbing structureC can be adjusted to achieve the desired effect.

9 FIG. 1 FIG. 9 FIG. 20 20 20 is a schematic view showing a modified example of the dust inspection device of. Referring to, the inner reflective structureA is egg-shaped or has a shape similar to a close curve so that the inner reflective structureA is similar to a mosquito swatter, a badminton racket or a tennis racket. Therefore, the shape of the framemay be any appropriate shape.

10 FIG. 1 FIG. 10 FIG. 100 100 40 50 40 200 30 40 50 40 10 10 1 30 10 is a schematic view showing another modified example of the dust inspection device of. Referring to, the dust inspection devicemay be mounted on the ground, the wall, the machine or any other structure. The dust inspection devicefurther includes a detectorand a controller. The detectoroutputs a start signal upon detecting the user entering a range of seeing the dustpassing through the optical net. In one example, the detectoroutputs infrared light and receives reflected infrared light to generate the start signal. The controller, electrically connected to the detectorand the light-emitting module, enables the light-emitting moduleto generate the light Land the optical netaccording to the start signal. When the user is not within the range, the light-emitting modulemay be disabled to turn off the light source and save the energy.

With the dust inspection device of the embodiment, the users can immediately inspect whether dust is present or not with their eyes. For example, the user can easily hold and swing the dust inspection device in the cleanroom to immediately check whether the dust is present therein or not. Of course, ordinary users may also use the dust inspection device to immediately inspect the levels of dust pollution in indoor or outdoor environments, allowing them to turn on an air purifier indoors or wear a mask outdoors, thereby maintaining respiratory health. Furthermore, the dust inspection device can also be fixedly installed in the environment, and configured to activate its light source upon detecting the user entering his or her visual range, so that the user can perform the real-time inspection.

The specific embodiments proposed in the detailed description of this disclosure are only used to facilitate the description of the technical contents of this disclosure, and do not narrowly limit this disclosure to the above-mentioned embodiments. Various changes of implementations made without departing from the spirit of this disclosure and the scope of the claims are deemed as falling within the following claims.